Soulstorm AI Difficulty

[Deemer125]

Hey
I had a game in Soulstorm Dawn Of Skirmish SS v3.20 AI Mod, I think, 4v4 AI Harder in Rhean Jungle.
I'm not going to go into the details of the game, but is being able to play harder good? or do I need to practice my race more to get better
The game lasted for 40min. My team: Me (Tau), Chaos, Imperial Guard, and Necrons (died after 20min) vs Imperial Guard (died after 20min) Eldar, Orks and Chaos I struggled to kill Imperial Guard in the first 15min and only with a joint effort and some vehicles, Imperial Guard was finally defeated. I think the reason it took so long because the IG kept on hiding in their buildings.
p.s. i'm fine with my bo, but if you need to hear my bo, ask me, and i'll write it down
Thanks in advance

[Rotlung]

As a general rule of thumb, being able to play against harder AI opponents is generally a good thing, though playing against the AI does not prepare you very well for online play (of which there probably isn't much, but I have no idea about that).

[Pseudonymn]

All the Harder setting does is give the Skirmish AI (and the stock AI for that matter) a bonus to their resource income rates. In a word, "harder" just means the AI "cheats". The Skirmish AI is plenty hard enough at it's stock settings for someone who's new to it; your loss isn't really surprising given the speed with which the Skirmish AI builds it's infrastructure, manages it's troops, and climbs the tech ladder.

I'm willing to bet that you plopped your troops down inside the IG's base within range of their garrisoned troops' weapons inside. The Imperial Guard, along with the Orks whose buildings all have guns, should not be attacked directly inside their base before T2 unless you're sure that you've eliminated anyone they can use to garrison their buildings. Just stay out of Ork bases altogether until you have a solid vehicle (walkers are excellent for this) or some other unit hardened against anti-infantry weapons to distract and soak the buildings' garrison/defense weapons fire.

If you let their buildings gun you down, you're just sinking resources into troop reinforcements while the IG/Ork take free pot shots at your men; you're not winning for the cost, especially in MP games. Get your ranged troops to fire on their base at a standoff range, well outside their building range (tau do this easily with spotters), make use of cover when you can, and keep your melee troops away until you can move in some armor. Better yet, ignore their base altogether and circle around their outskirts instead and steal their requisition points. Watch the IG cry inside their buildings while you annex their territory and steal their income. By then you should be into T2 with a vehicle on its way to tank the rest of the IG or Orks base. If they send their troops out to try and intercept you, gun them down if you can before they regarrison them.

Ideally, you should be setting a goal to have your closest enemy base either severely crippled or destroyed around the 8-10 minute mark.

[Deemer125]

Thanks. Oh and I didn't lose, it just took me a long time to win the game with the ai doing most of the work :'(

[Pseudonymn]

Post your replays, if you've saved them, for a better analysis. I've got to hit the sack here, so I won't be able to have a look at it until tomorrow after work, but I'm sure perhaps someone would be willing to have a look go at it by then. In any case, you should think about watching your own replays from time to time when you've played an particularly good (or bad) game to see what worked and what didn't. Replays are just about the best way to learn this game.

[Deemer125]

Yes I do save my replays, its just that I can't find them. I look in the playback folder, and the folder says empty. Also, when I download replays off the internet and put them in the playback folder, I can see them in the "recorded games" in Soulstorm/DC but when I click on them, nothing happens.